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1st-rounder Jones stands out in practice

• With LaMarr Woodley missing part of practice with a sore calf, rookie first-round pick Jarvis Jones was moved into the starting lineup and impressed almost immediately. While playing right outside linebacker and Jason Worilds flipping over to left, Jones made a number of plays during the live hitting portion of practice, including running down a ball carrier with backside pursuit. But he wowed everybody with an athletic move not many can duplicate. Jones batted a Ben Roethlisberger pass in the air and intercepted it during an 11-on-11 team portion of practice. Jones said following practice that he has been studying Houston defensive end J.J. Watt when it comes to batting balls.

• The Steelers appear to have a number of choices when it comes to kickoff returns. LaRod Stephens-Howling, Reggie Dunn, Curtis McNeal, Kashif Moore and J.D. Woods took turns returning kickoffs.

• On one occasion, the Steelers broke out the “Amoeba” defense, in which none of the 11 players puts his hand in the dirt during an obvious pass-rushing situation. That included defensive linemen Brett Keisel and Ziggy Hood.

• Rookie running back Le'Veon Bell continued to get work with the first team and was joined for the first time by third-rounder Markus Wheaton. Wheaton ran a significant amount of plays with the first team as the slot wide receiver replacing Jerricho Cotchery.

• Special teams coach Danny Smith ran a drill with the field goal team called “May Day,” the code word to notify the unit to hurry onto the field for a last-second attempt. Smith counted down for 12 seconds to put pressure on kicker Shaun Suisham, who nailed a 51-yarder out of the hold of Bruce Gradkowski.

Its still just training camp......I'm happy with the progress but I'm not getting to excited yet.......I'm anxious to see the young players in the first pre-season........Agree on avoiding injuries so lets pray to the football gods......